Pope to Launch Internet News Portal for Vatican

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is taking a leap into the world of new media next week with the launch of a news information portal that Pope Benedict XVI himself may put online with a papal click.

Benedict has been following the development of the portal — www.news.va — which will aggregate information from the Vatican's various print, radio, and television media for the first time in a one-stop-shop for Holy See news, Vatican officials said Saturday.

The portal is being launched Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of Benedict's ordination as a priest.

Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican office that developed the portal, said Benedict may put the site online himself with a click from the Apostolic Palace.